MAGA Leader Cult Damage Control Talking Points Guide; Video May 26 Q&A

A major propaganda operation begins to keep Trump's personality cult from deflating and prevent voter attrition

Welcome back to Lucid, and hello to all new subscribers. Since it is the first week of the month, there is no Q&A on Friday. We will meet on Sunday, June 2, 8-9pmET.

Our guest this Sunday will be Hawa Allan. She is a lawyer and author of the illuminating book Insurrection. Rebellion, Civil Rights, and the Paradoxical State of Black Citizenship. I’m glad we have a lawyer with us this week to unpack Donald Trump’s conviction.

Paying subscribers will receive a link at 5pmET on Sunday to register for the Zoom gathering. If you’d like to join these amazing conversations, you can sign up as a paying subscriber or upgrade to paid here. I have created a Justice is Served 30% off for 1 year coupon to celebrate the verdict.

Note: You will find the video of the May 26 Q&A at the bottom of the post.

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As we’ve been celebrating the workings of the democratic justice system in America, those in the MAGA cult have been organizing a major damage control operation. As we saw on Jan. 6, people who are bonded to a demagogue can be easily manipulated if they see the leader is in distress.

Now Trump has been convicted. While he says he will run for office from prison if necessary to save his followers and America, those grassroots devotees will be feeling very angry and volatile. The GOP elite has talking points ready to exploit those feelings. Since Trump’s sentencing is not until July 11, you will see them everywhere.

Many of these talking points build on previously developed narratives in use all the time by MAGA; others are produced for the occasion. That they were instantly adopted by so many GOP elites is further evidence that the GOP is an autocratic entity with a party line and effective rapid response propaganda capacity when a major setback occurs.

Trump’s victimhood is an umbrella propaganda point that supports all of these specific arguments. So is the need for retribution, which will become ever more prominent in the buildup and aftermath of his sentencing.

First, to soothe distressed followers, keep them in their Trump-is-omnipotent-and-will-save-me-bubble, and prevent voter attrition from the GOP, they are marketing the idea that the verdict will be overturned. This coordinated talking point has been advanced by GOP members of congress, governors, and many others.

Second, the verdict as a travesty of justice and an outcome of a larger corrupt justice